Tag Archives: Weather

Or at least, that’s the gist behind the moniker. The Boncho is a waterproof, well, poncho that keeps you dry while riding your bike. There are some like it on the market, although the Boncho does have “an additional semi-rigid section that extends over the handlebars, protecting the wearer’s legs from the rain and keeping them dry. Two fabric strips on the underside of the extended section allow the user to hold it in place while still gripping the handlebars.” It packs away nicely into its own carrying pouch, and unfurls in just a few seconds for added convenience. Sure, you’ll look a little silly wearing it, but if getting wet while on two wheels really isn’t your cup of tea, you won’t mind. At a €55 (US$60) pledge to get yours, it isn’t outrageously priced either.

If you want to know whether you’ll be needing your umbrella tomorrow, you could just fire up a weather app on your smartphone and check. But it’s a lot more fun if you use the Tempescope to get that information. It’s a plexiglass cube that doesn’t tell you the weather: it recreates it. The device is able to generate microclimates within its transparent enclosure, and it’s currently able to do rain, clouds, and lightning. The company is working on making it snow, but we imagine that’s quite the engineering challenge. It goes online and is able to retrieve the forecast for your city, or any place you designate, allowing you to share your current weather with your loved ones, for example.

The IndieGogo campaign launches on September 30th and the first 2,000 unit run will be offered to anyone willing to pledge $200 for it.

Got clammy hands? Take a lot of notes outdoors? Then these Rite as Rain notebooks are the ones that you need. They’re water-proof, which means that it’s resistant to rain and humidity. In a way, it’s also klutz-proof–especially against people who spill drinks or foods on their stuff a lot. Aside from plain old water, these notebooks are sweat-proof too, so you don’t have to worry about anything blotting when you rest your sweaty palms on the paper.

The earliest version of the Rite as Rain notebook was developed by Jerry Darling back in the 1920s. It’s evolved over the years and they’re now available in a variety of bindings, sizes, and sheet types.

Everyone else who thinks weathermen should just tell the weather as it is, say “Aye!” For some reason, quite a number feel the need to take their sweet time when they’re talking about the day’s forecast. Normally, I wouldn’t mind, but if I’m already running late, then I’d like to at least hear what to expect before I rush out the door.

Maybe it’s because weathermen everywhere want more airtime or feel that it’s so important to tell you about the tides and the wind directions, but you don’t have to put up with all that anymore. Not if you’ve got the Last Weather app.

[It uses a] heat sink, a fan and a Peltier element, which is a thermoelectric pump. An Arduino brain fetches tomorrows forecast based on your previously entered zip code, and the device automatically adjusts its external temperature from 32F (freezing point) to 100F (tropical heat).

Back then we didn’t know if you could even buy one, and as it turns out you couldn’t back then. But today you can pre-order your now redesigned Cryscope on Kickstarter for $300. For cost and aesthetic reasons it’s no longer a cube but a crystal shape. It’s still made out of Aluminum.

Weather forecasting, inaccurate as it might sometimes seem, is still a pretty useful science. But at the end of the day, you’re only told what tomorrow’s temperature is going to be. No one is actually, you know, showing you. That might be the line of thought that made one Robb Godshaw create the above Cryoscope. It’s a device that lets you feel, with your hand (or any body part you wish to use…), just what tomorrow’s temperature will feel like. It consists of an aluminum cube which contains a heat sink, a fan and a Peltier element, which is a thermoelectric pump. An Arduino brain fetches tomorrows forecast based on your previously entered zip code, and the device automatically adjusts its external temperature from 0F (really freaking cold!) to 100F (tropical heat). Anything outside those boundaries should serve as a reminder that moving to a place with better weather should be on your to-do list.

While inconvenient to carry when it’s raining, I don’t think it’s possible for an umbrella to ever truly be hands-free. No matter what the good people at Hammacher Schlemmer try and tell you. This backpack umbrella they’re now selling definitely looks like it lets you carry groceries or box kangaroos while staying dry, but I can only see it working if you live on a deserted planet where the wind never blows during a storm. Because whenever I’m walking with an umbrella here on Earth, I’m constantly fighting to keep it stable in stormy gusts, and preventing it from banging into other people.

Most importantly though, if my critiques haven’t been convincing enough already, if you use a backpack umbrella you’re going to look exactly like this woman does. That alone should be enough of a reason to stick with a traditional model, or just let you and your groceries get absolutely drenched. But if my prejudice towards supposed hands-free umbrellas hasn’t dissuaded you so far, you can go ahead and order one from Hammacher for $39.95. I promise I won’t judge you. (NERRRRRRD!!)

Normally you’d only need to carry an umbrella with you when it’s overcast and rainy (which seems like every single day where I’m at) but the Fanbrella looks like it’s also handy for days when the sun is beaming down. As umbrellas go it looks pretty non-descript, though I do like the use of plastic for the shaft and ribs ensuring they’re sturdy but won’t rust.

But what kind of justifies its expensive $79.95 price tag is a built-in motorized fan located underneath the canopy. It spins at 650 rpm refreshing the user with a constant downdraft, and the three plastic blades collapse along with the rest of the umbrella so it doesn’t have a bigger footprint when not in use. It does require a constant diet of 6xAA batteries crammed in the handle which keep the fan running for about 5 1/2 hours, which makes me wonder if a solar panel and rechargeable batteries could be integrated into its design somehow.

Way back in 2007 we brought you news of the Mercedes-Benz Museum’s 34 meter tall man-made tornado that was designed to quickly and effectively remove smoke from the building in the event of a fire, so as to protect the exhibits from smoke damage. The Tornex system is basically the same idea, though on a much smaller scale.

It’s instead designed to deal with the smoke from deliberate man-made fires, cigarettes, using a series of perforated silver poles that all blow air in the same direction, creating a miniature vortex. The air is then drawn into a charcoal filter system which removes about 95% of the smoke and odor before it’s returned to the smoking area. The silver poles also serve to create an air curtain keeping the smoke inside a designated, though not necessarily enclosed, smoking area. The cost? A totally reasonable $30,000+ (¥2,500,000) given the system makes freakin’ tornados!

OhGizmo! is a frequently updated blog that focuses on covering items that will appeal to a very specific and often very passionate audience: the geek. Aside from the fare of innovative consumer electronic products, the reader can expect to find news about geek culture, absurd inventions, awe inspiring technology, and an ever growing assortment of articles that we like to think fit within our view of what we’re calling the Geek Lifestyle.